Hi I am probably soon going to buy an andromeda but there are some things which i read and made me think: - it is quiet glitchy and not reliable -in the polyphonic mode (which is very important for me) the sounds are often out of tune

-personal fear: in the sound demos all the sounds sound similar and quiet harsh and modern, the pads are very nice, the basses ok, but the leads are very searing and for me old, fat, analog sounds like the ones of the jupiter 8, minimoog, (compact and brassy) are very important, also the oberheimish sounds are important, but it seems to me to be quiet well-suited for them.

Am I right with this statements and are there some other things i must watch out?And what do you think of the sound? are there sounds like the ones i need, or is it tweakable enough to get them, or not?

Thanks in advance for your help on my decision and please reply soon, on monday i must know definitly if i buy it or not.

I will say this about synths with presets; they are just the sounds that the manufacture designed. You can generaly make a synth sound like any thing you want. For example, in the 90's if a synth was advertised as having a new, modern and exciting sound, I wouldn't be surprised if it sounded super digital and harsh. But if a synth is advertised as having, phat, analog sounds, then that's what the presets will (try) to sound like. Just some thoughts...

"A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one."— Benjamin Franklin

I think some of the Andromedas that were produced when Harmon International bought Alesis were glitchy, but that was a small amount. Since you can't buy one new you'll just have to trust the seller. Mine is an earlier production run and is solid as a rock functionally.

As for being out of tune, it is only out of tune if you let it be. It has two different tuning modes that can be turned off or on individually. If turned on, they constantly run in the background to keep the instrument in tune. A lot of people in YouTube land seem to turn them off because they think it sounds more "authentic". I think it just sounds out of tune.

I think the issue with a lot of the factory patches is that they seemed to have been programmed with the Virus in mind, as if that was their major competition. So they do tend to be sort of digital sounding. But the synth is so deep. It can do the Moog thing. It can do the Oberheim thing. I can even do the CS80 thing (pretty darn close). And yet it sounds like itself. The key is really learning how the filter section works, which is one of the absolute best filter sections in an analog synth. The flexability is really only matched by a modular. Also, learning how the modulation matrix works is essential. I'm still uncovering things with that myself. Combine that with an insanely powerful sequencer and arpeggiator (independent of one another) and the possibilities are damn near endless.

Love Love Love my Andromeda. Never had a lick of a fault with it. The presets are really sort of limited in scope versus what can be accomplished on this thing. For me, it's an amazing piece of kit. Does so much, and things aren't buried in sixty levels of menus. Just look at all those knobs; That thing has more nipples than the total amount of b**b I've had the pleasure of seeing in person, in my life... But I digress.

Didn't you know? That's why synthesists are drawn to their hardware; think about it. Next time you twist a knob, realize you're practicing for twisting *other* knobs... Or is it vice-versa? I can never get that right.

thanks for your advises, you convinced me. on monday or tuesday I am going to the guy who sells it to me for 1000€ (i found out that he lives about 500m from my home). He says it is used like new, but unfortunately it is one of the lot where something with the voices doesn't work properly. I can try it out how long I want, and if i like it (despite the problems with those voices), it is mine for 1000€. I musted ask you this questions because i am new to analog synthesis (to be honest, this will be the second synth i own in my life, after the korg tr) and have no time to stay half a day trying this synth out so i can't go deeply into it before buying it.That problem with being out of tune i saw on a youtube-demo, where a guy mentioned it as one of the very few problems of this synth, but if i can autotune it, that's no big problem anymore.I love to experiment and tweak sounds and the most important thing is that i have fun while tuning the synth and after it having the sound i want.I play in a band and we cover 80s hits and i hope i will leave my band-mates breathless with my vintagesynth-emulations and be also able to make new unheared andromeda-sounds. I believe you on the depth of this synth and it for sure won't get boring after two years.

yeah, thats what i hoped and thought. almost till now i figured some new things out with my korg. now i know pretty much everything and i am curious about something totally new, but i searched somthing complez where i can learn a lot and don't get boared by hearing every time the same sounds - the andromeda is imo the best choice, and for 1000€ i can't do anything wrong.

I've been thinking about the A6 lately, because I am starting to appreciate the sonic character of the Xpander, although I do not like the way you are forced to edit the modulation routings in unison mode on the latter. But the large number of demos at the wohmart A6 audio demo page are telling me this machine, even in a skilled programmer's hands, sounds far too clinical when not saturating, and far too gratingly harsh when it is saturating. None of that same lovely swirl and beating from the detuned vintage VCO. True the Xpander doesn't really have it either, but the Xpander's sonic character isn't nearly the same as the A6.

The one time I played an A6, it had a malfunction where the main stereo output's right channel would lose continuity and go dead after being powered on for 5 minutes. The effects sounded like s**t, and with them turned off, it sounded about as flat and muddy as a Matrix-6/1000. Wasn't at all impressed. I've no idea what generation Andromeda it was, but I have yet to be convinced this synth is worth having in my own studio.

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analogue. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." - Brian Eno

Solderman wrote:I've been thinking about the A6 lately, because I am starting to appreciate the sonic character of the Xpander, although I do not like the way you are forced to edit the modulation routings in unison mode on the latter. But the large number of demos at the wohmart A6 audio demo page are telling me this machine, even in a skilled programmer's hands, sounds far too clinical when not saturating, and far too gratingly harsh when it is saturating. None of that same lovely swirl and beating from the detuned vintage VCO. True the Xpander doesn't really have it either, but the Xpander's sonic character isn't nearly the same as the A6.

The xpander has a much more classic sound to it, and handles subtle VCO detuning with aplomb, if not quite as "swirly" as something like the OB-Xa... the A6 on the other hand phases really strangely, and it's hard to get really subtle detuning out of it without obvious beating between the oscs...

b3groover wrote:I wouldn't buy one that was not fully functional, even for that price unless I knew it could be fixed and how much it would cost to do so. That's just me.

I haven't really understood which is the problem that many andromedas have. From what i've understood it can't be fixed and I am a bit unsure. Does somebody of you have an andromeda which has this particular problem? could you than please explain me what this voice-problem is about and if i should buy it the same or definitly not buy it, because i don't know if i have enough experience to notice it immediately when i am trying the synth out and don't want to buy something and 2 days later be disappointed.

Some people say the sound is awesome, some say it is too harsh, some say i can program it exactly how i need it...i think i'll have to see that by myself.

EDIT:I spoke with the guy on the phone and he said to me that he tried it out now (that i can try it without problems), but he says it sounds horrible. I can see him on friday and try it out by myself but he wouldn't recommend it because it really sounds bad now.I will go there and try it out (but i think i won't buy it) and ask him which synth he would recommend instead of the Andromeda. I thought on the Prophet 08 but I will speak to him and tell him exactly what I want, he has much experience with synths and knows where to get them from and i think i can trust a man who advises me to not buy his gear if it doesn't work properly.